It has been standard practice over the years to cure tobacco leaves by hanging the same in barns. More recently, curing has been effected by placing the tobacco leaves in large curing containers through which rods are placed for holding the leaves in position. After curing is completed, the rods are removed and the tobacco leaves gravitate to the ground. The cured tobacco leaves are next placed on a tobacco sheet within a sheeting ring and then manually compressed. The sheeting rings are removed, the ends of the tobacco sheet pulled over the compressed tobacco leaves and the ends thereof tied together.
Tobacco leaves processed in the above manner have a high sand and dirt content, to which tobacco manufacturers object, since it necessitates the removal of the sand and dirt from the tobacco leaves at the factory and the disposal thereof.
Additionally, the manual packing of the tobacco leaves in the sheeting ring is tedious and time-consuming, and it is often difficult and expensive to obtain labor for performing this operation.